Raise Your Glasses — A History of the Toast

A 2008 article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, titled "To the Revival of Toasts!" began with several well-known examples:

Humphrey Bogart's best was legend: "Here's looking at you, kid."

Groucho Marx's best was loony: "I drink to your charm, your beauty and your brains - which gives you a rough idea of how hard up I am for a drink."

But, hey, "Cheers!" works, too.

As we celebrate 2011, and look forward to 2012, we wondered — how are you ringing in the new year? What will you toast to? Is the toast important to you? We'd love to hear why, so tell us in the comments.

The article said that "a toast holds the power to move or provoke, so you need to know what you're doing before you lift your glass and propose a New Year's 'Prosit!' to (insert recipient here)."

It continued:

The right toast can make you the life of the party. A bad toast can make you look staler than a loaf of bread from Thanksgiving.

It seems easy. You just say something like, "A New Year's toast to love and laughter, and happily ever after." Or "God bless us, every one." But sadly, today many people know as much about making a polished toast as they do about making powdered wigs.

We've been cupping our ears to hear "saluds" for centuries. The first toast probably dates back to when some Bronze Ager lifted a sheep bladder full of fermented berry juice and made boot-licking remarks about his chieftain.

Get schooled about toasts, and read the full article here. It might give you something to say "cheers" about.